


Homecoming

by Wapwani



Series: Dragon Queen prompt responses [6]
Category: dragon queen - Fandom
Genre: F/F, Hic sunt dracones 'verse, dragon queen au, possible spoilers for Hic sunt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-19
Updated: 2016-04-19
Packaged: 2018-06-03 06:22:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6600211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wapwani/pseuds/Wapwani
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mal comes home from a work trip.</p><p>Part of a series of mini-fics written in response to prompts for Dragon Queen. The prompt for this one was: "One falling asleep with their head in the other’s lap". Previously posted on tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

  * For [soulofsilence](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulofsilence/gifts).



> This ficlet is a little different than the others in this series. For one thing, it was written as a birthday present for soulofsilence - who is a total sweetie, and the most fun reviewer a writer could ever have. 
> 
> For another thing, it’s set in my own WIP AU-verse. 
> 
> It’s set enough in the future that, hopefully while it’s still recognisable, the spoilers it contains do not interfere with the reading of the main story (when I ever/eventually/I promise I will try to finish it).

Alaric hurried forward, his footfalls muffled on the thick carpeting that lined the hallway. He was holding a hand out, as though that would stop Mal from striding forward. Mal didn’t pause, and Alaric turned sharply so he could walk along besides her.

“She is meeting with the Caledonian representatives.”

Mal glanced at him. “And?”

“And these are important meetings! The Caledonians are a very…energetic…people, and getting them to sit still long enough to come to any sort of agreement has been a little problematic.”

For a moment, Mal looked sympathetic. She’d spent some time in the cold, hilly kingdom, and she knew just how much ale and carousing the Caledonians were capable of indulging in. But then her eyes hardened.

“I’ve been away for a week Alaric. You’ve had long enough.”

She could see Ralf, standing at the door to the throne room, and her steps lengthened.

“Please your Majesty,” Alaric begged, drawing another frown from Mal. “Wait until she is done.”

“Seven days, Alaric.”

“Just five minutes more, Ma’am. Please?”

Ralf drew himself to attention as Maleficent stopped at the throne room’s doors. They were shut firmly, but she could sense Regina in the room beyond. Even her teeth itched with the need to see her.

She snarled at Alaric. “No.”

“She’s worked so hard for this,” Alaric said mournfully. “For her to fail now…”

His voice trailed off as Maleficent rounded on him in fury. Her eyes flashed with impatience and irritation, and her fists were curled, but he knew his queen, so he stood his ground bravely.

Mal groaned.

“Five minutes, not a moment more,” she sighed.

“Thank you, Ma’am!”

She couldn’t stand outside these doors a second longer; not with Regina so close she could smell her.

“I’ll be in our chambers. Send her to me.”

“Yes, your Majesty. Immediately she is done!”

“And don’t call me that!”

“Yes Ma’am.”

She threw a frustrated look at Ralf, who winced in sympathy, then ‘ported herself to their bedroom. She stalked back and forth for a while, but her attention kept being drawn back to their bed, so she swept the balcony doors open and stepped outside.

The view from here was still one her favourites in all her territory, although it was a lot different now than when she had first built her lair. She could still see Dogstooth, standing proud and strong in the misty distance, and the forest still grew, a dark green sea that protected the approach to their lair. But the courtyards below her were filled with people, and she could see the village from where she stood, smoke rising from the chimneys. There were wide fields where crops waved lazily in the breeze. The road, broad and smooth, curved away from the lair’s gates and into the forest. Ox-drawn carts moved slowly along this road, as did groups of men and women, mounted and on foot. She could hear the calls and laughter of children at play. She was no longer looking down over a ‘territory’, but over a realm instead.

Maleficent was a dragon, and dragons were not naturally rulers or governors. Dragons were protectors. Regina was the Queen of this realm, powerful and capable enough in her own right. But the people looked to Maleficent as a leader too; Alaric had named her ‘queen’ once, and now it was expected that Mal would sit in on council meetings, and attend negotiations with foreign realms and kingdoms, that she would sit in a throne with Regina at her right and dispense justice. For the most part, this was acceptable to Maleficent. Regina relied on her more to keep their realm safe, and Mal did get to use her strength and power to aid their allies. But every so often, Maleficent would have to play the part of the queen too; she would have to travel to distant lands and represent their realm’s interests.

So for the past seven nights, while Regina had juggled the exuberance of the visiting Caledonian delegation with all the other regular affairs of state, Mal had been in a kingdom several days’ march away doing what was necessary to combat and quell a threatened overthrow by an evil vizier. They’d been too sorely threatened by dark magic for Mal to ever turn her back on any sign of it. So she would willingly leave her own lair and mate behind and spend seven nights away, dealing with the machinations and intrigue of a foreign court, to ensure that no dark wizard would rise again.

Her campaign had been successful, the vizier had been defeated and the rightful princess had been returned to her throne, but Mal felt the strain of being away from home. Even though she and Regina could speak to each other every day, it was not enough. Mal had even convinced Regina to spend a stolen hour together – taking the chance that no emergency would arise while they magicked themselves to a quiet spot in the Nameless Forest – but that had made it worse. That brief taste had made returning to her empty bed so much more difficult.

She brooded at the balcony’s edge, willing the minutes to pass more quickly, while she waited for Regina.

She felt her as soon as she materialised, and turned to face her, and take her in. She had missed her mate; missed her scent and her wide smile, missed the feel of her dark hair slipping between her fingers as she held her face so she could kiss her. Missed the throaty beauty of her voice whispering her name, weaving a spell over her more powerful than any magic Maleficent had ever faced.

“Regina,” she groaned into the curve of her neck, giving herself to the warmth and safety of her mate’s arms around her body.

“Welcome home,” she whispered into Mal’s ear. “Oh I’ve missed you.”

And suddenly, the lair was not enough. There were too many people here; too many voices and scents that were not Regina. Too many things that could pull her mate away from her arms again.

“Fly with me?” she asked, her voice hoarse with need.

Regina smiled, her pleasure and eagerness lighting up her face. “Always.”

Regina stepped back and waved her hands through the spell necessary to change her clothing. Mal loved Regina in her queenly garb – elaborate gowns that accentuated her power and beauty. But she loved her more like this, in the leather woodsman trousers and linen shirts that she wore when Mal first knew her. She grinned in delight, and transformed into her dragon form.

She stretched her wings and waited until she felt Regina’s familiar weight settle behind her shoulders, then launched herself over the balcony’s edge. She could hear the people below them shout – greetings and calls of excitement rather than the cries of terror the sight of the dragon had once elicited. She beat her powerful wings, carrying them away from the lair.

There were many places Mal could have taken them; to the small castle they’d built in the foothills of Dogstooth, the cabin by the lake in the Upper Reaches, the hot springs in the Nameless Forest. But she chose the coast, the same shoreline she’d brought Regina to on the night of their handfasting.

The sea was still a contentious memory for Mal.  She had yet to show Regina all the worlds, as she had promised. Every time she broached the subject, Regina would demur; _‘Wait a little longer,’_ she’d say, ‘ _it’s not going anywhere. Wait until Kathryn is settled’,_ or _‘when Zen is older_ _,_ _’_ or any number of other things that were more important right now than exploring the world together. And Mal would be more impatient if it wasn’t so obvious how much Regina was enjoying being queen, how much she loved their life in the lair with their very large, very complicated family. But the sight of the sea would always make her remember that she had promises yet to keep.

Regina loved the sea. Possibly because their visits here afforded her the rare privilege, one that no other human had ever shared, of joining a dragon in play. Mal would swoop and dive over the waves, coming in so low and fast that her outstretched claws would throw up great plumes of frothy foam. Regina would tuck in behind Mal’s neck, and her laughter would spur Mal on to even more speed, pulling them high into the air and tucking her wings in so they’d fall, spiraling towards the sea; she’d extend her wings at the last minute, using more of her magic than her body’s strength to level them off. They’d chase schools of flying fish; sometimes Mal would snap mouthfuls of fish out of the air, but mostly she’d just chase them to make them leap and scramble. They’d head out to deeper waters to find dolphin pods; they’d fly alongside them, the dolphins leaping high out of the sea so they could stare at the dragon and click at Regina, as though asking what this unlikely pairing was doing this far away from land.

When they returned to shore, Mal transformed back into human form. They walked along the edge where the water met the sand, their ankles washed by the breaking waves, until they found a sheltered spot. Mal cast a pavilion, filled with cushions and carpets, with food and drink close to hand for when they grew hungry or thirsty. Regina settled herself into a pile of cushions, and patted her lap. The exertion of their flight and play had taken some of the edge off their need for physical release; they would make love later, when the stars filled the night sky, but right now she just wanted to be close to Mal. Mal lay down, her long body stretched out, her head in Regina’s lap. Regina let her fingers rest gently on Mal’s face, stroking along her hairline. Mal sighed.

“Tell me a story?” Regina asked.

“From the book?” Mal replied, reaching up to call it to her from the Library.

“No. One of your own.”

Mal smiled, searched through her memory for a story that would amuse, and started speaking.

But, she’d had a very long day, and several nights of little sleep, and she had flown hard and fast. Regina’s hands were on her face, soft as they moved across her forehead and through her hair. Her fingers were gentle but firm as she kneaded into the base of Mal’s skull, pressing into the tension she found there until it eased. Mal sighed again, losing the train of her words, but Regina kept massaging her scalp and Mal’s eyes fluttered shut.

She slipped so smoothly into sleep that Regina may have missed it if she hadn’t been listening so closely to Mal, watching the rise and fall of her chest as her breathing calmed and slowed. She reached down and kissed Mal’s forehead.

“Welcome home, my love,” she whispered to sleeping ears. But Mal smiled, as though she had heard her.

Regina leaned back into the cushions, keeping her hands moving gently through Mal’s hair. She was a dragon’s mate, and dragons were protectors. She’d watch over her mate while she slept.


End file.
